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As I bled the lines I could feel the shuddering slowly go away and a short drive to the store showed no signs of the previous symptoms so I am very hopeful. A cold start and a longer drive in the morning will be another test.

Hey everyone, i have been lurking the forums for awhile and decided to make an account because i am having an issue and don't really know what to do. My gf took a job out in the bay area and because the STi is more reliable than my Prelude, she took the STi.

Recently, the car has started to smoke in the engine bay and it smells sweet (from what she tells me). The car tends to smoke only in the morning at least 4/7 days a week. When i went out to visit her, it didn't see smoke at all but from the general area she described it could possible be this hose (the black one).

She tells me she isn't losing any fluids which i find very weird. Any idea what it can be? its frustrating cause i am not out there and can't see it first hand.

Last edited by Prelude2elude; 02-02-2013 at 04:58 PM.
Reason: cannot get photo to show

that might be your turbo leaking...
i have 140k miles on my power steering and its leaking from the actual pump. should i replace the whole unit with a low miles one or do you guys think the o-ring would solve my issue? oil is dripping all over my block and onto the exhaust manifold.

Hey everyone, i have been lurking the forums for awhile and decided to make an account because i am having an issue and don't really know what to do. My gf took a job out in the bay area and because the STi is more reliable than my Prelude, she took the STi.

Recently, the car has started to smoke in the engine bay and it smells sweet (from what she tells me). The car tends to smoke only in the morning at least 4/7 days a week. When i went out to visit her, it didn't see smoke at all but from the general area she described it could possible be this hose (the black one).

She tells me she isn't losing any fluids which i find very weird. Any idea what it can be? its frustrating cause i am not out there and can't see it first hand.

Well, if the power steering system is leaking anywhere, there will be a drop in the fluid reservoir. It isn't real big so it should be fairly noticeable after a little while. That hose is not usually our problem.

I did 3 of the 4 clamps (didnt do the one next to the radiator on the resivouir (spelling FU) without removing hoses and I have not lost power steering since! I even tried to make it go out by doing "doughnuts" on gravel and dry pavement. Woot!! Thanks a ton for the writeup!!!

but getting the stock clamps off the hose without ripping is a PITA - be warned. take them off in 2 pieces (outer first obviously)

How tight are you supposed to torque down the 10mm for the inlet nozzle ? I wonder if I have mine too tight (snug then just a bit).

Mine was making lots of noise, replaced it with a auto parts store replacement that looked to be a tad too thick, had to apply force to get nozzle seated. It made things worse (and was pinched when I pulled it) so I reinstalled the old OEM O-ring. Day later it was making tons of noise as well and when I pulled it out the OEM ring was pinched. Would torquing it down too much cause the O ring to pinch ? I tried to keep the nozzle as flat & staight in the hole with one hand while tightening the bolt by hand then rachet in the other.

Have ordered a new OEM ring, want to install it with correct torque specs.

Hey great thread guys, lots of useful information about the ****ty power steering setup in our cars. Turns out some things should be left to the professionals though...

Following this and other threads about power steering problems, I took apart my power steering pump and rebuilt it with new o-rings (about $5 and 4-6 hours of work if you go slow and without the right tools) and replaced the clamps on 6 of the connections on the power steering hoses (I think there are 8 total but I ran out of screw-type hose clamps). After all that, it turns out my high pressure hose is leaking, spitting fluid onto the turbo and exhaust, causing the burning smell and loss of power steering.

Checked with a local shop, they called around and couldn't source a replacement high pressure hose. They quoted $320 from the Subaru dealer. I checked with Autozone and O'Reilly, neither has the OEM part available (might be available as part of a complete setup, but didn't check for that). So now I'm going to let the shop rebuild the power steering high pressure hose, which apparently involves welding the line, for about $150.

Does anybody know how to replace this line. My heat shield came loose and rubbed through the side of mine so I bought an OEM one from the dealer ship but I can't get to the bottom of the line to remove it. Any ideas?

- The STI O-ring is too small, I tried one without success. In fact it made matters worse as it allowed even more air to enter the system and the entire resesvoir resembled a purple milkshake.

Naturally being in Canada they charge us 2x as much. Its nearly $3 for the crummy little part. But whatever it does the job.

My scenario: Car was running perfect prior to engine work. Issues started after head gasket job. They pulled the motor so I'm assuming from my resolution they disconnected the inlet nozzle. My hypothesis is that these rings flatten over time but continue to work so long as you leave the system alone. As soon as you open things up the seal is broken and the ring no longer performs its function. It did not leak at all by the nozzle so its not always obvious where your problem lies. I was going to start with the ring (cheapest part) and then progress by replacing hoses until the problem went away. Luckily all my original hoses / clamps are good.

When I left the shop it was squealing like a little biatch and was very notchy/juddery even in a straight line. The resevoir also puked all over the itself on the drive home and made a mess on my garage floor. Driving in general rather sucked as the steering wheel would judder over pumps and fight back around turns, especially 180 degree highway onramps

Resolution: O Ring replacement

Items of note:

Its important to make sure you seat the inlet nozzle correctly. Initially I tried an aftermarket O-ring which was way too big. I put the OEM ring back on and the symptoms were worse than before. Upon removal I noticed the ring had pinched and was letting in more air. On the Forester there are other parts in the way that does not allow the nozzle with hose attached to seat properly.

My bolt would not torque down to 28lbs. It kept turning and didn't feel like it was getting tighter so I stopped out of concern for stripping the threads. I backed off the torque wrench and verified 22lbs torque. Close enough I'd say as it worked.

The manual bleeding of air process was not sufficient for me. With wheels raised I turned the rack 20-30 times and it still sounded like squishing bags of milk. What did work was starting the motor with wheels raised and slowly turning side to side till it (mostly) shut up. This took a while unlike others who had immediate results. Yes I was freaking out at this point. On a related note once the car was running fine I raised the wheels and manually turned the rack. Its now dead quiet, no squishing sounds at all.

My methodology :

a) Remove 10mm bolt at base of inlet nozzle/top of pwr steering pump
b) Remove inlet nozzle from pump. Take care not to drop washer or mounting bracket into the depths of the motor. I suggest using a small cloth to catch the little bit of fluid that will come out as soon as you pull the nozzle from the pump.
b)Remove clamp from rubber hose at top of inlet nozzle (I slid it down the hose a few inches and left it there) and seperate hose from nozzle. Inspect hose for cracks, replace if necessary (I was lucky, mine is fine)
c) Remove ring from base of nozzle/ install new ring
d) CAREFULLY reinstall nozzle. Its important to make sure it slots in straight down otherwise you risk pinching the ring, it will not seal properly if it does pinch/tear and you'll be back at square one. Put nozzle in place above pump and push straight down gently. At some point it will pop down and seat, that's when you know its installed correctly.
e) Hold nozzle with one hand, finger tighten 10mm bolt with other hand.
f) Tighten bolt with rachet. I prefer to use hand tools for small jobs like this, its too easy to strip things with air tools.
g) Now re-attach upper hose to nozzle and slide clamp back to previous spot.
h) clean area then begin bleed process as described

After bleeding I went for a test drive, there was some initial judder/noise but it was improving as I went. Next couple of days driving to work & back the noise was mostly absent and there was some mild judder on hard turns but it wasn't fighting back like before. Its been just over a week now and I'd say all is fine. It pretty much bleed itself out in 2 days of going to work. The last two days I've taken some highway ramps at speed and it no longer exhibits any juddering whatsoever.

Thanks OP for posting this ! My mechanic, while extremely talented, was not aware of this issue and it cost me $300 in wasted labour/parts for re/re a used pump I did not need not to mention the huge PITA living with a faulty & noisy pwr steering setup.

So glad I found this post! Big thx to hwy61 for the write-up and pics. For me, just adding three new clamps (the ones that I could access without having to remove the whole assembly) did the trick. No whining and steering is not stiff on engine start-up.

Thanks to all who have contributed to this thread, but especially Highway61 for the photos. I replaced my hose clamps for $4, but that wasn't the answer. I moved along to the next likely culprit, the intake o-ring. That did the trick. I didn't even have to bleed the system. Instant no more whine. Fantastic. Total cost: $4.30. Thanks everyone.

Does anybody know how to replace this line. My heat shield came loose and rubbed through the side of mine so I bought an OEM one from the dealer ship but I can't get to the bottom of the line to remove it. Any ideas?

I have Bobcats, backhoes and all sorts of equipment with hydraulic lines. Even NAPA will build you a new hydraulic line for about $15 to $20. Depends on the size of the line and the length. All are high pressure....that is what a hydraulic system is about to begin with. If not NAPA there are hydraulic line repair folks at any tractor repair shop, equipment repair shop which services construction equipment all of which use hydraulic lines and sometimes quite a number of them on one piece of equipment. My backhoe has about 15 or 20 of various sizes and lengths. I would remove the offending part, take it with me to have another fabricated.

Now, regarding the O rings I will go back to the OP and add a little more information regarding these....sizes, etc. There is no rule that every year and model will have the same O ring. The one I purchased and that worked was bought from memory...I forgot to take the old one with me. The real issue is that the O ring should be of a size where it fits without being too small ( has to be stretched over the male end and the diameter is reduced from the stretching not to mention that this stretching might break the ring down the road) or too large where the cap can't be properly seated due to a big ole fat O ring that is just too big. What this part does is fit between the cap and the body of the pump. It is simply a compression fitting where the O ring is lightly compressed so that it seals all air from being able to be sucked into the pump.

That is all it does. The get old, they harden, they shrink when cold. And if they let air into the system...your system is screwed. Not damaged or ruined but the system will not work properly or perhaps not at all even with a little air. If you are getting bubbles in your reservior while the engine is running......don't worry about anything else being the culprit until you fix that lead. Air getting into the system occurs at a vacuum point....not a high pressure side leak. A leak there will show fluid escaping...not air getting in. The place where air is getting in more than likely from all the fixes here is at the inlet side of the ps pump where fluid is being sucked into the pump. It is here where a poorly engineered fitting and hardened O ring is failing. The good news is O rings cost about twenty five cents and on most of these cars the inlet fitting sits right on top of the pump and is held down by only one 10mm bolt.

I sold my STI several years ago so I don't check in too often anymore. Hope this thread did help a lot of folks and perhaps some subby shops solve the issue quickly and inexpensively. Hwy61

BTW, you can also buy rubber hoses for the return lines to the reservoir at any auto store. Cut off a chunk of your old hose and take it with you to size a new one. Hose is sold by the foot and is really inexpensive. Stay out of the dealer for stuff like this....they are many times way overpriced for components, screws, bolts, etc..

Long term update: pwr steering still works great, wish I had clued in to replacing the O ring months ago.

And again to nail home that you don't need to leak pwr steering fluid to allow air into the system. There wasn't a single drip around the inlet nozzle where air was leaking in (low pressure part of the system)